


Stories and Songs

by Rochelle_Templer



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Slice of Life, brief mentions of violence, plenty of angst here along with the fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-01-31 00:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12664797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rochelle_Templer/pseuds/Rochelle_Templer
Summary: A series of short fics for the Second Doctor involving his travels, his friends and his wondrous life in this second incarnation.





	1. Don't Wander Off

“ _And this time, do as you’re told and don’t wander off.”_

Don’t wander off. Isn’t that what he always tried to say to his companions? It was a piece of advice that the Doctor found himself dispensing over and over again partially because it was the one that seemed to get ignored the most often.

Susan would sometimes wander off when they first started to travel together, but over time, he was able to make her see reason and convince her that it was safer to stay with him. Of course, he never wanted to stifle her natural curiosity. That was one of the many reasons why he took her away from Gallifrey in the first place. 

In fact, it wasn’t until he started traveling with humans that he needed to start saying it again. Those schoolteachers were so frightened and confused by what was happening around them at first, but over time they conquered their reluctance and began to be curious wanderers too. The Doctor grew fond of his accidental stowaways and it was for their own protection that he tried to discourage them from straying too far from him.

Eventually, Barbara and Ian left and others came. First Vicki, then Steven, and Dodo. All of them were eager to see more of the places they went to. All of them were so prone to getting themselves into trouble partially because they forgot about his warnings to stay together until he understood what was going on. He still told them to not wander off, but he admitted that it was often a losing battle.

Ben and Polly were really no better about it. Of course, they didn’t believe him at first when he explained that they were now travelers in time and space and it was even harder when he regenerated. Still, over time they grew to trust him…even if they didn’t always listen to his warnings about running off without him. And he grew to care for them even more in this new incarnation.

Admittedly, the Doctor eventually did realize that he should have thanked Ben for ignoring him that one time when they landed in Scotland’s past. If the sailor had not wandered off to explore the countryside, he would have never met Jamie and would have never gained one of the dearest friends he would ever know.

Jamie’s inquisitiveness turned out be insatiable and sometimes rivaled his own. Behind his affected sullen demeanor was a mind willing to ask the important questions. Plus, he came from a time and a culture where he would have already been considered a man, despite his young age, and thus would have been expected to be willing to be responsible for others. 

Unfortunately, this also meant that Jamie’s tendency to wander off and act on his own was even stronger than that of many of his past companions. Jamie was loyal and dependable, but that didn’t mean that he blindly obeyed every instruction given to him. Especially if it went against his morals and code of honor. Even more so, if he was convinced that he needed to do something to defend the people closest to his heart.

All of this led to disastrous results during the Doctor’s most recent battle with the Great Intelligence. All appeared lost to him until the last few minutes when he managed to find a way to manipulate the Yeti’s control spheres and was given a chance to tamper with the helmet that would be used to absorb his mind. The Doctor had secretly smiled, pleased that he would not only win, but make sure that the Great Intelligence would not have a chance to harm anyone ever again.

That is, until Jamie decided to use the Yeti under their control for his own purposes.

“ _You’re just as bad! I told you to leave to me, and now you’ve gone and ruined everything!”_

Rationally, the Doctor knew that Jamie was only trying to protect him. The Highlander had sensed what the loss of his intellect and his memories would mean to the Doctor and had done what he could to save his mind. Not to mention the fact that Jamie simply didn’t know about his plans and would have acted differently if he had known.

However, that hadn’t made the sting of defeat any easier for the Doctor to take. He still brooded over the fact that the Great Intelligence would inevitably strike again. It was only a matter of when, not if. The only question was how many more people would have to suffer before he stopped it once and for all.

It was that frustration lurking in the corners of his mind that prompted the Doctor to use that incident as a way to encourage Jamie to stay put until he got back. Someone needed to keep an eye on the latest activities of the regional governor and the Doctor assigned Jamie to this task. The piper grumbled at not being allowed to accompany him on their way to get Victoria back, but the Doctor was able to stop his complaints with a reminder of the last time that he didn’t follow through with the Doctor’s instructions. That was enough to put a halt to any more objections.

“ _Promise me you’ll stay here and keep watch. No matter what happens.”_

_“Aye, ye have my word.”_

_‘A Highlander’s word is his bond.’_ He said that to Ben not long after they had met Jamie. The Doctor knew that Jamie would stay where he was because the Scot had promised him to. And Jamie would never break a promise to him. He would remain there until the Doctor returned for him.

There was no way the Doctor could have known that the man they were fighting was even madder than the refugees had reported him to be.

There was no way the Doctor could have guessed that the regional governor had just had a falling out with this recently empowered dictator just this morning.

There was no way that the Doctor could have anticipated that this man, a man consumed by paranoia and malice would actually go as far as to send a missile to the capital, effectively destroying the main base of finance and technological advancement for the entire planet.

As a result, there was no possible way that the Doctor could have foreseen the moment when he would be standing on a hilltop miles away from the city he had  left Jamie in and watching it burn in pillars of flame.

‘ _No! No, he can’t do this! He’s destroying everything that made this planet into one of the most advanced and civilized in this part of the galaxy. Doesn’t he understand?’_

_‘All those people…all of them dead….’_

_‘Jamie was there with them.’_

_‘Because I made him promise to not wander off.’_

_‘And Jamie never breaks his promises. Not to me.’_

The Doctor stood and stared at the ruined metropolis, now just a funeral pyre for thousands of souls, one of his closest friends among them.

“I am sorry, Doctor,” Ancelo, his guide for this journey, said to him. “I realize that you have now lost someone too in this bloody uprising.”

The Doctor nodded and waved his hand at Ancelo in an effort to keep the other man away. He couldn’t let anyone close to him right now. His grief was too raw, too encompassing to allow anything to come near him for several moments.

“We should go now,” Ancelo finally said. “There is the young lady to attend to.”

“Yes, yes you’re right,” the Doctor said quietly. “Lead the way.”

Ancelo nodded and was solicitous enough to walk ahead and keep his face turned toward the path ahead of him. The Doctor made sure to be aware of his surroundings even as he walked with his head down. He had no idea what he would say to Victoria, and right now, he found it difficult to care about such concerns. He might tell her to stay close to him and not wander off while he finally put an end to this butchery.

But he doubted that his hearts would ever let those words emerge from his lips again.

 


	2. Stay Close To Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a sequel one-shot to the previous chapter, "Don't Wander Off."

Two days later, the Doctor was sitting near a window that opened up onto a balcony that overlooked the heart of the city far to the east of the one that had been obliterated.

He had succeeded in deposing the tyrant who had seized power through a campaign of terror and murder. Many of the soldiers in the dictator’s army were eager to change sides after getting a taste of his oppressive style of leadership. Thus, it was easy to organize a revolt at various strategic locations and capture the troops who remained loyal to this despot. The coup d’état was pulled off with only a few lives lost. Rather than be taken alive and face justice, the dictator took his own life.

Word of what had happened to their sister city had reached here by this point. Many of these people had lost friends and family in the destruction of the capital. Having the specter of death hang over them for so long, however, had made it so that loss had become part of daily life. They had learned to stretch their sorrows into a thin line that spanned months or maybe even years. That way, they could dole out their sadness out, a little at a time, rather than drown in it all at once. It was the only way they could cope under the conditions they were forced to live in.

Unfortunately, the same was true for the Doctor. Only, in his case, that sadness could last decades or maybe even centuries.

Dull blue eyes like lead turned toward the city outside. The Doctor could sense that the people had made the conscious decision to wait until tomorrow to begin the mourning process and to start rebuilding their society. Tonight, they would honor those who had died in the cause of liberation by allowing themselves to be truly joyful for the first time in years. He could hear cheers and laughter and even a few strains of music bubbling up from the crowd. Exuberance was such an unfamiliar feeling to them that they couldn’t help but embrace it.

The Doctor’s hands lay motionless in his lap. It almost felt selfish, focusing on the death of one when so many other lives had been destroyed. He tried to be happy for the people who would now be able to live free and peacefully, but his hearts were far too heavy.

He had asked for a place where he could be left alone while he waited to be reunited with Victoria. The magistrate, who had taken control of the city, had accommodated him by giving him the finest guestroom in his mansion. Ancelo had dropped by to see him not long after he had settled in the room and had left him a tray of food and drink. After that, the Doctor had remained in quiet solitude.

The Doctor looked up at the night sky, his eyes growing wet. While he was focused on rescuing Victoria and getting rid of the evil man who had numerous lands in his grasp, he had pushed aside any thoughts of Jamie out of necessity. It had turned out to be even more difficult than he had originally thought to get Victoria away from the rebels who had accidently picked her up. On top of that, his opponent was insane, but clever enough to question everyone and everything. Thus, it took even more guile than usual for the Doctor to find a weak point to exploit. He needed all of his mental acuity and nerve to pull off the plans he had cobbled together as he learned more about the situation. Nothing, not even the loss of his piper, could be allowed to distract him.

However, now it was all over. Now, there was nothing left to think about other than the void that Jamie’s death had created. That and the fact that he was the one who was responsible for it.

The Doctor eyes burned, causing him to blink rapidly. He had had a chance to briefly speak to Victoria earlier that day. Enough to know that she was well and looking forward to seeing him and Jamie again. The Doctor hadn’t told her what had happened to Jamie. This was something that had be shared in person and privately, not over a faulty monitor screen blurred by static. She was due to arrive in the early morning, and the Doctor hoped that he would be able find the words he needed to say to her by then.

Another round of cheers erupted. The Doctor couldn’t begrudge their jubilation, but still wished that he could drown out those joyful sounds.

He hung his head and covered his face with his hands. Logically, he knew that asking Jamie to stay put and learn all he could about their enemies’ plans was the sensible decision to make. He imagined that he probably would have made the same choice if he had had a chance to do it all over again. Still, the Doctor knew that he would always regret both his decision and that his last words to Jamie were spoken with exasperation and were used to coerce the piper into following orders by reminding him of his mistakes.

_‘Jamie…Jamie, I…I….’_

“Doctor?”

Startled, the Doctor nearly fell out of his chair. For a second, he was sure that he had heard Jamie’s voice, faint, but distinctive. He stood up onto shaky legs and walked around the room, straining to listen for confirmation of what he could hardly believe was true. Seconds later, he heard footsteps approach.

The Doctor rushed over to open the door to reveal a weary, but very much alive Jamie McCrimmon on the other side.

“Jamie,” he breathed, his eyes wide with shock.

“Ah, there ye are,” Jamie said as he walked into the room. “Ancelo said that ye were up here waitin’ for Victoria and that some of the rebels were bringin’ her back here. Hey, is she all right?”

“She’s fine,” the Doctor said, his voice unsteady. “She’ll be here tomorrow. But Jamie…you…you were supposed to be….”

The piper looked down and away, his shoulders slumping.

“I know promised ye that I would keep watch over the governor,” Jamie mumbled. “But while I was finding a place to hide so I could keep an eye on him, I heard someone scream. I looked outside and saw one o’ the guards threatenin’ this group of lassies with his gun. The poor girls were crying, but he was jes laughing at them. I tell ye, I could nae stand there and do nothing. I jumped the guard and helped them escape. Then they begged me to help them sneak out of the city so they could go somewhere safe. We managed to steal this transport thing and drive it a ways into the desert before it went to pieces.”

The piper let out a sigh. When he lifted his head, there was a rueful expression on his face.

“I thought it would nae take long, but I ended up havin’ to stay wit’ them ‘til we got to the next village,” he continued. “Then their friends gave me a ride here. I went to look for ye when I saw Ancelo, and he told me where ye were. I, I’m sorry, Doctor. I broke my word, and there’s no excuse for it. Ancelo said that ye were able to stop that murderer, and I’m glad for that. For a while there, I thought that I might have ruined yer plans again, jes like wit’ the Great Intelligence.”

The Doctor felt a twinge in both hearts. For the last two days, he had thought that Jamie was dead and that it was entirely his fault. And now Jamie was the one apologizing to him for breaking a promise that would have cost him his life had he kept it.

‘ _He doesn’t know,’_ he told himself. ‘ _He doesn’t know what happened to that city after he left it. Oh Jamie….’_

Jamie’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion over the mix of emotions apparent in the expression on Doctor’s face.

“Doctor?” he said, reaching out to put his hands on the Doctor’s arms. “Doctor, are ye all right?”

The Doctor responded by grabbing Jamie and holding him close. He was saddened by the thought that the piper had carried this burden for two days, however, that regret could not eclipse the euphoria he felt over finding Jamie alive and well. Jamie was initially startled by the embrace, but had quickly reciprocated it. The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment and held him even tighter while letting himself be comforted by the warm, affectionate contact.

“Doctor…?”

“I’m all right, Jamie,” he said, a smile appearing on his face for the first time in days. “More importantly, so are you. And you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. Saving people’s lives is not something you should ever be ashamed of. In fact, it’s I who should be apologizing to you for making you feel as if I was disappointed in you in some way.”

“But if it were nae for me, the Great Intelligence….”

“There’s no way you could have known about my plan,” the Doctor interrupted. “And who knows? Perhaps it’s for the best. After all, it’s hard to say what might have happened if I had absorbed that wicked mind into my own, isn’t it?”   

The Doctor released his hold on him and looked Jamie in the eye.

“What’s important is that you remember this one thing,” he said. “That I will always be grateful to have known you and called you friend, James Robert McCrimmon.”

Jamie’s eyes lit up with joy, a wide grin appearing. The Doctor beamed back at him, pleased to see him so happy. He knew that he would have to tell Jamie about what had happened to the capital city at some point, but decided that that would be left for tomorrow morning before Victoria arrived. For now, he would follow the example of the people outside and let himself and Jamie enjoy the rest of the night and the celebration around them.

“Is that food for us?” Jamie said, his attention riveted to the untouched tray that Ancelo had brought. “I’m fare famished. All I’ve had for the last two days was water. Ye would nae believe what happened to me out there in that desert….”

The Doctor chuckled and walked over with Jamie to the table. As they ate their meal, the piper related adventures of dodging various patrols and fighting off a “tall, purple, scaly beastie”. The Doctor made sure to listen, but was still occasionally distracted by his awareness of all the little, simple joys and quirks of Jamie’s company that he had thought he would never get to experience again.  

“Hey, look at that!” Jamie said, pointing at the window. “Up in the sky.”

Jamie rushed out onto the balcony with the Doctor close behind. Streaks of light shot upwards and then split apart into what looked like flower petals of numerous colors and hues. The petals glowed and twisted about in the gentle night breezes as they floated down to the ground.

“It’s so beautiful,” Jamie said, not even attempting to hide his awe for a change. The Doctor smiled and moved to stand next to him.

“Yes, it is, Jamie,” he murmured.

The lights from the petals danced in Jamie’s eyes as he continued to watch them fall. He took a couple steps to the side and rested his hands on the Doctor’s shoulders, one of his forearms lying against the Doctor’s upper arm.

The Doctor’s smile grew. Touch was not only a friendly gesture between them. It was also another way that they communicated with each other. Often, it was just as effective as words. Sometimes, even more so. Right now, it was clear from his touch that Jamie had sensed that something had troubled him, and he was letting his friend know that he would be here for as long as the Doctor needed him. The Doctor acknowledged all of this by patting one of Jamie’s hands.

‘ _Stay close to me,’_ he silently requested. The Doctor didn’t say it out loud because he knew that he wouldn’t have to. That belief was validated when Jamie squeezed his shoulder indicating that he would do just that.

Another burst of light and color exploded in front of them. In the streets below, hundreds of people were dancing, shouting, and singing as they celebrated their victory and the new life that had been given to them. While on the balcony, there was this quiet moment of connection between two friends who were deeply thankful to be together.

For the Doctor and Jamie, that would always be more than enough.  

 


	3. To the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a missing scene from Episode Two of The Space Pirates.

He had known that it was a long shot, even if he couldn’t bring himself to admit it to Zoe at the time.

The Doctor shifted to sit up on his knees so he could stare forlornly at the tangle of wires and circuits in the wall next to him. She had been right, of course, that he might make a mistake in calibrating the magnetic field of this section and send them flying away from the rest of the station. However, it had also been a calculated risk. If he had succeeded, it would have been a simple matter to repeat the process with each section until they had reassembled it so they could get back to the TARDIS. Granted, they would have had to find a way to move from one section to the other, but the Doctor had been confident that he could manipulate the mechanisms that controlled the doors. Lock-picking was a skill that he had mastered out of necessity.

Now, there was no chance of escape. Their portion of the station was too far away from the rest of the pieces, making a second attempt futile. They were trapped with no possible means of reaching the TARDIS.

And the oxygen levels in this section were continuing to diminish.

The Doctor heard Jamie and Zoe gasping for air behind him. He knew enough about human physiology to be able to predict what would happen next. Soon, his companions would grow disoriented and drowsy. Eventually, they would fall unconscious and quietly slip away. The Doctor was aware that he would last longer than them, although this gave him no comfort since it meant that he would have to watch them suffocate.

He would have plenty of time to grieve before he finally succumbed along with them.

“Doctor?”

The Doctor hung his head at the sound of Zoe’s voice behind him. What he could he say to her? She had wanted to see the universe and to learn to be more than an automaton who lived her life for data and equations. He had taken her away from everything she had known only to take her here to die.

He heard the sound of heavy footfalls moving closer to him and recognized them as Jamie’s. Jamie, one of the bravest and most loyal people he had ever met and who was the first human he could consider his best friend. The Doctor had taken him from Scotland to protect him and to give him a new life amongst the entirety of time and space. Jamie had wanted to leave almost as soon as they had arrived, but the Doctor had refused to listen, his insatiable curiosity compelling him to stay. Now that curiosity would put a premature end to Jamie’s life, a result the Doctor would curse himself for until the very last second.

“Doctor,” Zoe repeated.

“I’m sorry, Zoe,” the Doctor said in a low, mournful voice. “I’m afraid there’s nothing else I can do.”

“Och, don’ give up Doctor,” Jamie said with a nervous laugh. “Ye’re tae clever for that. Ye’ll think of something.”

“Not this time, Jamie,” the Doctor said, his eyes still fixed on the wires dangling from the exposed panel.

“Ye…ye mean there’s no way out?” the piper asked. “We’re trapped here.”

The Doctor nodded, his entire body sagging down under the weight of that admission. He desperately wanted to tell them how sorry he truly was, but any apologize he could think of seemed trite in the face of the dire circumstances there were currently in. Even if he could find the words to convey his regret, he knew that he did not deserve any measure of forgiveness from them. Not that he expected it anyway.

No one spoke for several long moments. The silence compounded the sorrow the Doctor felt as he waited for the inevitable anger from his companions for his failure to get them out of this situation. He scooted over toward the edge of the platform up to the door in an attempt to isolate himself from them. The Doctor covered his face with his hands, his eyes burning with bitterness over what he had allowed to happen.

Suddenly, he felt a warm hand grasp his shoulder, causing him to gasp in surprise. He lifted his head and turned to see Jamie and Zoe standing behind him, the piper’s hand squeezing his shoulder again.

“Come on, Doctor,” the Scot said gently through heavy breaths. “We cannae wait any longer to use those tanks again.”

“Yes,” Zoe nodded. “You need to breathe too, Doctor. And we will be better able to conserve our oxygen if the three of us stay close together when we open the valve.”

“Zoe…Jamie…,” he muttered. “I…I’m so sorry…I…I should have….”

“Och, there’s no point in any of that,” Jamie interrupted. “Ye did the best ye could.”

“But it’s my fault that you ended up here in the first place!” the Doctor exclaimed. “If I had listened to you…if I had been more careful….”

“There was no way you could have known that this would happen, Doctor,” Zoe insisted. “All the evidence indicated that it would have been better to avoid being imprisoned by those guards if at all possible. Not to mention the likelihood that it would have been disastrous if we had been caught up in whatever conflict befell the rest of the crew. You can only act upon the information available to you.”

“Come on,” Jamie repeated, holding out a hand to him. “Ye should nae be alone. Not now. Stay wit’ us.”

The Doctor stared at them in disbelief. There was no trace of anger or recriminations in their eyes or voices. Instead there was affection colored with concern. His hearts ached at the realization and he pondered just how fortunate he was to have known such dear friends even for the short time the three of them were together.

He clasped the piper’s hand and let Jamie help him scoot over closer to him while Zoe moved to plop down on the floor next to him. Jamie sat down behind him and fell back against the railing of the platform while putting his arm around the Doctor’s shoulders. The Time Lord lifted the tank and twisted the handle to let out a little of the air, all three of them taking in as many deep breaths as they could before he shut it again. Once he had sat it back down onto the floor, the Doctor slumped down against Jamie who responded by guiding him down into a reclining position, the Time Lord’s head resting on the piper’s chest.

“Jamie,” he murmured.

“’Tis all right, Doctor,” Jamie responded in similarly soft voice. “I know. And ‘tis the same for me tae.”

The Doctor reached up to pat Jamie’s hand before closing his eyes to rest while he waited for the next suitable interval to release some more oxygen into the section. He couldn’t see a way out of this situation, but he was grateful for Zoe and Jamie’s company in these final moments.

They would be together to the end. And the Doctor was certain that he could think of no better epitaph for his existence than that.  


	4. Stoic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place right after the story-line "The Krotons."

Stoic. That was the word he had heard Ben tell Polly once when they thought that he couldn’t overhear them. Polly had been worried that the piper had still been in pain after the blow to the head he had suffered on the moon. She said something about checking up on him, but Ben dissuaded her by insisting that the Scot wouldn’t tell her the truth even if he was still hurting.

“ _I’m tellin’ you Pol, we should just let ‘im rest like the Doctor said. Besides, ‘e’ll just keep it to himself even if you were to ask ‘im how he is. You know that whole Highlander bit. Stoic. Keeps it all inside. He had to be in the world he grew up in.”_

Jamie had walked away after that, the sailor’s words reverberating in his brain. He couldn’t disagree with Ben. Pain was a reality that a Highlander had to face if he was going to march alongside his laird into battle. A piper couldn’t shirk his duties just because he might suffer physical discomfort. Jamie had known long before he met Polly or Ben or the Doctor that there would be times when he would have to deal with hardships and that it was better to give off an air of indifference rather than show signs of weakness to those around him. Later, when Polly finally did give in to her impulse to ask Jamie how he was feeling, the piper did just as he was expected: he assured her that he was fine and went back to lying down with a pounding head.

Time passed. Ben and Polly eventually returned to their own time in London. Victoria had joined them on their travels and eventually left when it became too much for her. Now Zoe had become the latest passenger on the TARDIS. Jamie had his doubts about her at first, and there were still times when those doubts returned. However, it was also clear that Zoe was better suited to this lifestyle and that she could be very helpful when he and the Doctor got into yet another scrape.

Still, throughout all this, Jamie felt that his role had changed very little. The Doctor continued to let his curiosity get the better of him and needed minding. These days, it felt as if his role had become even weightier because Zoe often encouraged this kind of behavior. The piper firmly believed that last thing any of them needed was for him to slow them down because of any aches and pains he might feel along the way.

Thus, when the Doctor had steered the TARDIS back into the Vortex after their adventure with the Gonds and Krotons, Jamie had naturally waved off any questions Zoe had about what had happened to him when the Krotons had taken him captive.

“ _Och they jes asked me a lot of questions that I dinna know aboot. All they cared aboot was gettin’ ye two back to work their machines.”_

Zoe didn’t look entirely convinced, but she didn’t push the matter either. The Doctor soon changed the subject by suggesting that they have dinner. Feigning tiredness, Jamie managed to slip back to his room on the pretense that he needed a shower and a “wee lie doon” before joining them later.

Once he was in his room, he plopped down onto his bed while putting his hands to his head and leaning forward.

The Krotons had used some kind of machine to probe his mind more than once. Jamie didn’t remember much about any of it, but he figured that that was why his headache was getting worse with each passing hour. It hadn’t been so bad when he was still fighting the Krotons and trying to get that acid the Doctor wanted. Not that breathing in those foul-smelling fumes had helped his condition any. However, now that they could all catch their breaths and the adrenaline was wearing off, the piper could no longer ignore the stabbing sensation behind his eyeballs.

Hoping that some warm water might ease his pain, Jamie stripped his clothes off, wincing more than once as he did it. There was a large, dark purple bruise on his arm where one of the crystalline beings had gripped it with their vice-like hands. The piper had thought at the time that they could break it if they kept on squeezing it. It certainly felt as if there might be some damage to the bone.

He looked down at his ribs and found more bruising. He was pretty sure that some of that was from trying to crawl out under that door that he had forced opened with that rock the Doctor had found. The rest of it was probably from when that Kroton attacked him after his failed attempt to shoot it with one of its own weapons. The thing had pressed on his ribs and throat until he had passed out. Thankfully, the ascot on his neck had cushioned his throat to some extent, but his abdomen had not been so lucky. The pain only got really bad when he took a deep breath, but that was enough to ensure that he wouldn’t forget about it any time soon.

The Scot’s eyes continued to travel downward until he noticed a faint scar on his leg from when he was shot by Vaughn’s men when the TARDIS had landed on Earth and found a Cybermen invasion about to take place. It had stopped hurting a while ago, but it served as a visual reminder of the risks he often faced on his travels.

And of the inevitability that he would not escape all of them unscathed.

Jamie walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower as hot as the TARDIS would allow. The heat did relax aching muscles, but was still not enough to alleviate all the pain he was experiencing. He leaned his head against the wall of the shower and closed his eyes, letting the warm water gently cascade down his temples and cheeks with beads of moisture dripping from the tips of his hair. A couple minutes later, he turned the water off and stepped out. He quickly dried himself off, his vision blurring a couple of times while he did it.

After that, he went back into his bedroom and grabbed some clothes from his closet. Jamie had gotten as far as putting on a clean kilt and pair of socks before the pain in his head became too much for him. He laid down on his bed and curled up into a ball, closing his eyes.

‘ _I jes need to rest,’_ he told himself. ‘ _That’s all. Jes rest. ‘Tis nae the first time I’ve hurt my bean. I’ll jes lay here for a while and get some sleep and it’ll go away eventually.’_

The piper reached over to press a switch on the wall near his bed. Once the lights had dimmed down, Jamie went back to cradling his head in his hands.

‘ _I’m nae really that hungry either. I’ll jes skip dinner and sleep. That should be enough time for the headache to go away. I’ll jes sleep ‘til the Doctor lands the TARDIS somewhere else…’_

The piper pulled his body into a tighter ball as he tried to shut out the aches that he felt throughout his body. He was convinced that he just hadn’t been getting enough sleep lately and that’s why this was bothering him so much. Now that he knew what to do, Jamie could act on it. He would sleep. He would wake up feeling better. And even if he didn’t, he would carry on as if he did. No need for the Doctor or Zoe to be worrying about him. They had enough things to worry about on their mad, random travels throughout space and time.

No matter what, Jamie would be quiet about it. Stoic. That is what he was.

That was what he had to be. 


	5. The Turn of Fate

Donald McCrimmon frowned, his brow creased with worry, as he stared at the wet, black landscape.

It had been two weeks since his beloved wife had first fallen ill with a fever that wasted her away to almost nothing and less than two days since her soul had finally shed its mortal bonds. Donald was still mourning her with every breath he drew. However he knew he could not allow the grief to overtake him. He still had his sons to take care of. Sturdy, honest, able lads, Donald was proud to have them as his children, and each of them had claimed their own place in his heart. They gave him hope in the midst of the turmoil that always seemed to loom over Scotland’s future. They continued to give him purpose in the face of his own loss.

And it was this fierce, yet warm regard that he had for his sons that had driven him out onto the moors and into this terrible weather. In particular, it was because of the youngest of his bairns, four-year-old, Jamie.

Donald drew his jacket closer to him and shielded his eyes from the rain with the edge of his hand. Jamie had been an unexpected addition to his family. Both he and his wife had thought that her child-bearing days were over a mere six years after they had begun. Then, almost five years after she had had her previous son, she found herself with child yet again. Donald was pleased to welcome a new member to the McCrimmon family, but his wife had firmly believed that it was not meant to be and fretted just about every moment of her pregnancy.

Fortunately, her misgivings turned out to be without merit as she delivered a healthy baby boy with no complications. Still, his wife continued to believe that her last child had an ominous mark on his fate and could never truly warm to him the way she had her other sons. She did not go out of her way to be unkind to him and made sure to fulfill her motherly duties, but she also maintained a distance between herself and Jamie that persisted all the way up to the last moments of her life.  

Donald, however, had been convinced that Jamie had been a gift to cheer his heart which had become weary from the strife Scotland endured and from the worries he had over the future. Jamie had an adventurous spirit and a playful smile which endeared him to his brothers, and a fine, gentle heart which his father treasured. When Donald looked at his son’s face, he could see the music in Jamie’s eyes and could sense the intelligence that shone in every glint and glimmer. He was certain that Jamie would be an excellent piper and had already begun preparations for his youngest son to be educated with a variety of piping masters once he was old enough.  

Sheets of rain rolled over Donald’s back as he let out a long sigh. His wife’s indifference to Jamie was a point of contention in their relationship, but she had been a good mother and he could not let go of his love for her. Thus, he did his best to ensure that her prejudice did not drive an insurmountable wedge between them. As long as she remained civil to him, Donald decided that he would step in and do his best to fill the space that was empty of her affections. Granted, he frequently found that he was sorely tempted to spoil Jamie, but managed to be fortunate enough to be given a son whose good nature could easily overcome any excessive indulgence.

A flash of light was quickly punctuated by a loud crack of thunder. Donald shivered as the rain soaked him, the cold seeping into his bones. Night was falling and with this storm raging, it would not be long before it would be difficult to navigate the moors and virtually impossible to search for anything…or anyone.    

‘ _Jamie,’_ he despaired silently. ‘ _Come back to me, son. Where are ye?’_

Donald ground his jaw and continued onward. Jamie had been afflicted with the same fever that had taken his wife, and for a brief time, Donald wondered how he would be able to withstand the loss of the love of his life and his dear bairn. Thankfully, his son’s case turned out to be not as severe, and he was spared another devastating loss.

However, despite the relief he and his other sons felt over Jamie’s recovery, there were those among his wife’s family who were bitter that their kin had suffered and eventually died while the child she never wanted still lived. Their attitudes swiftly became apparent with every visit they made to tend to her and her household. They avoided Jamie while he was recovering from his illness and adopted a cold demeanor toward him once he was no longer bed ridden.

Looking back on it now, Donald wished that he had done more to put a halt to this unjust treatment, but his grief over becoming a widower had blinded him to most of what was going on around him. All he could focus on was trying to find the strength to continue on and take over more of the responsibilities to his house and family. His bairns had been a comfort to him even though they also were shedding their own tears over the loss of their mother. Still, there was little they could do either to lessen the harsh words or the callous behavior that these relatives engaged in around Jamie.

The situation had become unbearable earlier that day. The funeral had happened that morning and a somber atmosphere had come upon the entire family as kin of Donald’s joined his wife’s in mourning the departed. Many of these relatives later accompanied Donald and his children to their house to spend time consoling and sharing remembrances.

It was his wife’s twin cousins, spiteful and disingenuous to the core, who decided to carry out their own brand of revenge against Jamie. They had taken him out onto the moors under the pretense of showing him their favorite place to hunt in the nearby glen. But it had been a ruse to lead him far away from the paths he knew and then leave him there, lost and alone. Caught up in familial obligations and sympathies, Donald did not find out about Jamie until hours after the twins had returned.

The wind picked up, causing the rain to swirl about. Stray strands of salt-and-pepper hair clung to the piper’s temples, his beard dripping broken droplets. Thinking about what the twins had done still made Donald’s blood boil. There had been many shouted oaths and a furious demand for several members of his wife’s extended family to leave his home and never return. A part of him regretted his hot temper and his severing ties with members of his wife’s family. Nevertheless, Donald remained firm in his conviction that what they had done to Jamie was unforgivable and could not foresee a time when their apologies would erase the anger he felt.

The piper stopped and took shelter near a tree at the edge of a forest. He had gone to where the twins described and had not found Jamie there. Donald had rallied a few of the men of his clan to help him search, but none of them had had any success thus far. By now, the others had given up and even if any of them were here, they would encourage him to resume his search in the morning.

But if there were any traits which truly defined Donald McCrimmon, they would have to include stubbornness and a stalwart dedication to the people he cared about. Even if his search turned out to be futile or had a heart-breaking conclusion, he would continue to scour the land for his son until he found him. He surveyed the area around him and cupped his hands around his mouth.

“Jamie!” he bellowed. “Jamie, can ye hear me?”

Donald listened for a couple moments before slumping against the tree trunk. He had hoped that his son would stay close to where his cousins had left him or choose to stay under a tree near the edge of the woods to avoid the worst of the storm.  However, the piper had found no sign of Jamie and grew increasingly worried that his son could face exposure or a resurgence of his illness, either of which could easily kill him. Donald struck the bark with the heel of his fist and took a deep breath before squaring his shoulders and moving on.

After walking for another mile, Donald caught a glimpse of light in the distance. He squinted as he approached and realized that the glow was coming from the windows in old McIntosh’s croft.

‘ _But he left that croft behind o’er a year ago,’_ he mused. ‘ _So who’s creepin’ aboot there now?’_

Donald frowned and placed a hand on the handle of his dirk. He knew that it was possible that McIntosh or one of his family had gone to the old house for some reason or another, but he preferred to remain vigilant until he knew all was well. He crept up to the croft and peered in through the window.

He could see a man in long, black cloak, sitting in front of the fireplace, which was lit with a welcoming blaze. Donald couldn’t make out any of the man’s features, other than his dark hair which had begun to turn silver and his short, but powerful stature. The man appeared to be rocking back and forth slightly in his chair while holding something in his arms.

Curious and still a bit wary, Donald moved over to the door and slowly opened it, the creak of the hinges barely registering against another roll of thunder. He stepped inside and heard singing. The piper cocked his head to the side and listened to the man by the fire sing in a low, rough voice. He did not recognize the language being used, but his musical instincts told him that the song was very old and was meant to guide children to sleep. He took another step forward which caused the stranger to stop and turn his head toward him.

“Who are ye?” Donald demanded. “Ye’re nae one of old man McIntosh’s kin. I know that for sure. What are ye doin’ here?”

The man’s face remained mostly in shadow, but Donald took in the glitter of vibrant blue eyes which stared into his.

“You must be Donald McCrimmon,” the man said in a soft, light tone. “I was hoping that I would meet with you soon.”

“Ye know my name?” Donald said quizzically. “Have we met before?”

“No, no,” the stranger laughed. “But let’s just say that we have a mutual acquaintance. Now then, I’m sure you’re drenched from this awful rain. Come closer to the fire where it’s warmer.”

Donald frowned again. He couldn’t understand it, but something about this man told him that he could be trusted. He moved over toward the hearth, grateful for its warmth and turned to face the strange wee chap in the chair. Once he got a good look at him, Donald’s jaw dropped open in surprise.

There, curled up in a blanket within the folds of the man’s cloak was Jamie. The boy had fallen asleep in stranger’s lap and was resting his head against the man’s chest, one small hand clutching at his blue shirt. The man noted the path of Donald’s gaze and nodded.

“I found him near the edge of the forest,” he said. “Don’t worry. He’s all right. He was cold and rather upset when I discovered him, but as you can see, he’s better now. You should know that he was suffering from a slight fever.”

“It’s come back,” Donald said, dread coursing through him. “The sickness….”

“Now, don’t worry,” the man repeated. “I’ve given him something that should take care of that. But I think it’s time that you took over.”

The man slowly and carefully rose to his feet, making sure not to jostle Jamie too much. Sensing his intent, Donald held out his arms and took his son from the stranger’s cradling embrace. The piper’s eyes grew wet as he felt Jamie stir and resettle against him without waking up.

“I thank ye,” Donald said, his voice unsteady. “I don’ know what I’d done if I had nae found him. But…who are ye? How did ye know….?”

“I must go,” the man said, pulling his cloak closer to him. “Make sure he gets plenty of rest over the next couple of days. And please, stay close to him as much as you can. He needs you right now.”

Donald nodded solemnly while shifting his hold on Jamie so his child would be more secure. The stranger stepped closer to him and reached over to stroke the boy’s hair.

“Goodbye, Jamie,” he murmured.

The man rested his hand on the crown of the child’s head, a look of care and longing in his deep blue eyes. Then he turned and walked out into the stormy night. Donald started to follow him and blinked in surprise when the stranger seemed to disappear without a trace. Less than a minute later, he heard a strange, wheezing roar which quickly faded leaving only a slowly quieting rainfall.

Donald stared at the moors outside. He continued to think about the man and the strange, fey presence he seemed to generate. He still could not fathom who the stranger was or how he could have known him and his son, and while he continued to be grateful to have his precious bairn back, another thought was germinating in his mind.

That this stranger, whoever he was, was not of this realm. And that, for some reason, this man was as fond of Jamie as he was.

“Papa?”

Donald looked down to see Jamie watching him with drowsy eyes. The piper grinned and turned back toward the fireplace.

“Aye, Jamie, ‘tis me,” he said. “Rest now, and we shall go home when this rain ends.”

Jamie nodded and rubbed his face with the sides of his fingers. Donald sat down in the chair that the stranger had previously occupied and leaned back. The boy squirmed his way up so he could rest his head against Donald’s shoulder before becoming still again. The piper patted his back while his expression grew more serious.

“And when we get back, we’ll talk aboot yer runnin’ oof to the moors wit’ those devils,” Donald scolded. “I know I told ye to stay wit’ yer brothers while our family was visiting us.”

“But Papa, I thought….”

“What? What made ye think ye could disobey me? What were ye thinkin’, James?”

The child flinched at the use of his proper name and swallowed hard.

“I thought ye wanted me to leave ye alone,” Jamie whispered. “That’s what they said. That ye were mad ‘cause Mama is gone.”

Donald closed his eyes and let out a curse before he could stop himself.

“Well they lied to ye,” the piper said, brusquely. “Ye need to learn when people are nae bein’ honest wit’ ye. And ye know better than to let people tell ye what do to after I told ye to mind my words.”

“I’m sorry,” Jamie said, his voice quavering.

The piper let out another sigh and hugged his son closer to him.

“’Tis all right,” he said. “As long as ye’ve learned to listen to me next time. Now, go to sleep. Ye need to rest to get better.”

“Papa…I’m sorry,” Jamie repeated, tears wobbling out of his eyes.

“What aboot?”

“…aboot Mama. I wish she’d come back.”

Donald squeezed his eyes shut and took a shuddering breath.

“I wish she would tae, Jamie,” he said. “All of us will miss her. But…but that jes means we’ll have to hold onto each other a lil’ tighter is all.”

A pair of small arms circled Donald’s chest and he embraced his bairn with all his might, reluctant to let Jamie go.

Determined to make sure that Jamie would never be lost again.

 


	6. Never Fall So Far

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one takes place at some point during Season 6B.

“Doctor? Doctor, where are ye?”

The Doctor could hear Jamie calling for him, but did not reply. Currently, he was caught up in a tangle of wires as he continued to work on disconnecting the beacon that allowed the Time Lords to track every move the TARDIS made throughout time and space.

Eventually, he spotted Jamie walking into the room out of the corner of his eye. However, the Doctor did not pause for even one second to acknowledge his presence.

“There ye are,” the piper said as he moved closer to him.

“Yes, here I am,” the Doctor snapped. “As observant as always, I see.”

Jamie watched him silently for a moment before crouching down beside him. If those words had affected him, the piper did not let it show.

“What are ye doin’?” he asked.

“What does it look like?” the Doctor asked tetchily.

“It looks like ye’re messin’ with the TARDIS again,” the Scot replied.

“For your information, I am not ‘messing’ with it,” the Doctor said. “I’m fixing it. I’m getting rid of those infernal tracking circuits the Time Lords installed so they could keep an eye on me.”

“Ye sure that’s wise?” Jamie asked. “I mean, the Time Lords don’ seem to be all that understanding when ye do anything that might break one of their rules. What if they find out aboot it?”

“I’ll just tell them that the new circuits weren’t compatible with this older model,” the Doctor responded. “They’re so lazy in their thinking; they’ll believe that without question. Besides, these circuits are interfering with the space-time interface. If that goes then we could land hundreds or even thousands of years off course from our destinations.”

“So in other words, nae so different from how ‘tis normally,” Jamie smirked.

“I see that you weren’t listening when I requested that you drop that appalling dialect,” the Doctor said, pointedly changing the subject. “Just a few more wires and I should be able to disconnect this….”

A shower of sparks suddenly erupted, causing the Doctor to yelp and drop the wires he was fiddling with. Jamie immediately jumped up and dashed out of the room. Less than a minute later, the piper was back with a first-aid kit while the Doctor continued to blow on his burnt fingers.

“Here,” Jamie said, holding out his hand. “Let me….”

“No!” the Doctor nearly shouted at him. “I’m going to finish this first.”

Drops of blood dribbled down his fingers, but the Doctor merely flicked them aside as he continued to make adjustments. Jamie sat down on the floor and silently watched him work. Soon, the Doctor smiled as he yanked a pair of tiny silver discs free from the wires and threw them against the wall. Jamie shook his head and scooted over so he could place the Doctor’s hand into his own.

“I’ll have to bandage it,” the piper said as he wiped the blood away.

“Fine,” the Doctor huffed. “It was worth it to get rid of those things. The CIA already has enough control over my life. There’s no reason why they should get to watch every move I make.”

Jamie finished cleaning the blood away and gingerly wrapped strips of medicated dressings over each finger. Soon, he was finished and reached over to pat the Doctor’s arm.

“Doctor,” he said softly. “What happened on Tryanas Mon…it was nae yer fault. Ye said that what they were doin’ would have torn the whole planet apart and a bunch more besides.”

“And so instead, I let an entire city die,” the Doctor grumbled. “Ten thousand people…dead.”

“Ye tried to warn them. They were the ones who would nae listen.”

“Of course they didn’t,” the Doctor shot back. “Don’t you see? They weren’t supposed to.”

“I, I don’ understand,” Jamie gaped. “Ye mean…ye were supposed to fail?”

The Doctor leapt to his feet and kicked aside the bundle of wires on the floor.

“The CIA, they’ve always had their eye on the capital city of Tryanas Mon,” he fumed. “Do you think this is the first time they’ve sent someone there? Well, I can assure you that it isn’t. The last time someone was sent, he just barely managed to prevent them from creating a black hole at the center of their solar system. Their scientists were completely incorrigible, and the government was all too willing to enable them. And the rest of the populace, well they’ve been brainwashed into never questioning what those scientists do.”

“I still don’ get it,” the piper said as he stood up. “Why did the Time Lords send ye then if they were nae goin’ to listen to ye anyway?”

“Because they were counting on them not listening to me,” the Doctor answered. “And they knew, oh they just knew, that I would be forced to make a choice: do nothing and just hope that they’ll avoid a major catastrophe or make sure to contain the damage and save the rest of the planet and possibly the fabric of space-time in that area of the universe.”

The Doctor paced around the room in short, angry strides while Jamie simply stood still and watched.

“Oh, there was a chance, a slim chance that they might have listened to me after what happened last time a Time Lord visited their planet,” he continued. “But eventually they would return to their dangerous experiments, just like they had every time before. So, do you see now? If I had succeeded, that would have worked as a neat, but short-term solution. But…if a more permanent solution became necessary…all the better.”

“Ye mean, the Time Lords knew what could happen and did nae care?” Jamie gasped. “All those people….”

“Yes, exactly,” the Doctor yelled at him. “And I helped them carry it out. I was a part of this plan. The CIA wanted those people stopped and had accepted that there might be ‘collateral damage’. That’s a part of their precious non-interference, you know.”

The Doctor turned away from Jamie and gripped the edge of a console along the wall.

“This is what they spared me, Jamie,” he growled. “This is why they keep delaying my punishment from the High Council. For dirty work like this. And I’m as guilty as them. I make it possible for them to continue on this way.”

The Doctor lowered his head and shut his eyes. He could still see the faces of the people he met in the capital city: the street musician who made children laugh, the seamstress who tried to capture the beauty of nature in her threads, the security officer who loved his city and wanted to keep his family safe. All of them were gone now, reduced to atoms.

He was so entrenched in his memories of those faces, he was startled when Jamie moved closer to him and clasped his shoulders from behind.

“Ye’re nae like them,” the piper insisted gently. “Ye’re nae. Ye tried over and over again to stop them. Ye only interfered at the last minute when there was no other way. And after ye did what ye did, ye could’ve jes run oof. It would have been a lot safer. But instead ye risked yer neck to help those other people, the ones in the forests and glens. They’re alive now ‘cause of ye. Do ye really think any of those other Time Lords would have risked themselves to make sure of that?”

“That’s not the point,” the Doctor retorted. “The city, those people… I, I couldn’t save them.”

“I know,” Jamie said. “Ye did what needed to be done, but ye still could nae save them. But that does nae take away from what ye did. It does nae make any of the people ye did save any less important. Ye’re still finding a way to help people, to be ye. Even wit’ that CIA lot tryin’ to force ye into bein’ like them. So don’ go putting yerself wit’ them. And jes know that, no matter what happens, I….”

The piper moved closer still, placing one arm around the Doctor’s shoulders while moving his other hand to grip his arm.

“I still believe in ye, Doctor,” Jamie murmured. “And I always will.”

The Scot squeezed the Doctor’s arm and patted his shoulder. The Doctor responded by reaching up and placing a hand over the one on his arm, grateful for the warm contact that soothed his cold hearts.

‘ _Jamie….Oh , Jamie, even after all you’ve seen…you still choose to believe in me….’_

The Doctor let out a sigh as he leaned back against him. Jamie’s faith in him was a constant. A ballast which ensured that he could always return from the construct he had created to function within the CIA back to the person he needed to be. Even during those times when he had to surround himself with shadows in order to preserve the light of so many hearts.   

They stayed that way for a minute before Jamie broke the silence.

“Doctor, ye think the CIA will let us take a break for a while?” he inquired. “I could do wit’ a bit o’ peaceful scenery for a change.”

“Oh, I’m sure I could arrange that,” the Doctor said as he let him go.

“But, Doctor, Sardon….”

“Forget Sardon,” the Doctor said. “I know for a fact that the High Council is getting ready to do one of their ‘mandatory’ reviews of the work from various members of the CIA while still trying to deny their existence. The last thing Sardon will want is me around to answer any embarrassing questions. I’ll be doing him a favor by taking the scenic route back to Gallifrey.” 

That got a laugh out of Jamie with the Doctor joining in. He plopped back onto the floor and started to gather up the loose wires.

“Just let me get this situated,” he said. “And then we can be on our way, Jamie.”

“Sounds good. Doctor, where are we goin’?”

The Doctor paused and looked up at Jamie with a ghost of a smile.

“Wherever we want, Jamie. Wherever we want.”


	7. Quiet Touch

Somewhere in the recesses of his brain, which was currently trapped inside a throbbing head, the Doctor wasn’t all that shocked that this happened.

* * *

 

He remembered stopping by the planet Geolous many years ago when he was still traveling with Susan. They both had marveled at the colorful flowers and the fruits hanging off every tree branch around them. The Doctor had taken a few pieces of the fruit to examine as specimens, but Susan had impulsively eaten one of them. She had enjoyed it so much, the Doctor decided that there was no harm in joining her. They ended up eating most of their “specimens” while sitting on a lush patch of blue grass and watching birds fly in loops in the sky.

It wasn’t until a few hours later that they both had come down with a fever which led the most atrocious migraines they had ever experienced. For a brief time, the Doctor thought that they had been infected with some kind of mind parasite. Susan was still able to tend to the most basic operations of the TARDIS, but the Doctor had been so stricken with pain, he could barely see straight or even move.  

Fortunately, the effects were temporary and subsequent tests on themselves showed no lasting effects. For a long time after that, the two of them were much more cautious about what they ate on the worlds they visited, and the Doctor made a secret vow to avoid spending any more time on Geolous.

Still, the TARDIS had a strange way of returning to planets he had visited before when he least suspected it. He recognized Geolous only a few seconds after he stepped out of the TARDIS along with Jamie and Zoe. As soon as he realized where he was, he turned around and was ready to immediately take off again.

“Oh come, Doctor,” Zoe had said. “You said yourself that you hardly explored this planet the last time you were here.”

“And ye said that there were no nasty beasties here, right?” Jamie chimed in. “So what’s to worry aboot? It’ll be a nice change from the usual trouble we land in.”

“Oh all right,” the Doctor finally huffed with a shake of his head. “But whatever you do, do _not_ eat any of the fruits here. They may look harmless, but I can assure that they are not.”

Jamie and Zoe both gave their word that they would not consume any of the local vegetation, and the three of them ventured out into the forest. At one point, the trees parted and the ruins of an ancient village lay in front of them. Delighted at their find, the Doctor spent over three hours investigating every abandoned dwelling. Zoe explored the ruins with him, the two of them theorizing about the culture that had once lived there. Meanwhile, Jamie wandered off by himself, admiring the mosaics on the walls for a time until finally settling under the shade of a tree to take a nap.

Eventually, the Doctor noted that Jamie had been gone for a while and went to look for him with Zoe close behind. They soon found the piper fast asleep under the tree. Zoe was about to go wake him when a loud ‘crack’ caught the Doctor’s attention. He grabbed her arm to still her and was horrified when he realized that the slow, creaking sound he heard was the trunk of the tree breaking apart. It wasn’t long until the noise woke Jamie up.

“Doctor? Zoe? What’s goin’ on?” he yawned as he rubbed sleep-filled eyes. “Where’s that noise…?”

“Jamie,” the Doctor said, edging toward the tree. “Keep very still.”

“Why? What…?”

“That tree you’re under is splintering from the inside,” the Doctor cut in. “I’ve seen it happen here before. Right now, it could fall apart at any minute. You’ll be crushed by those branches.”

Jamie glanced up for a few seconds, his eyes widening at the thick branches drooping over his head, before returning his gaze to the Doctor’s face.

“Jamie, I need you get ready to jump toward me when I give the word,” the Doctor said, continuing his incremental advance. “Careful now. Keep your movements slow and quiet. That’s it.”

Zoe fidgeted in place as she watched Jamie shift into a crouching position and the Doctor shuffle forward until he was almost within arm’s length of the Highlander. Once he was in position, the Doctor held out both his arms toward Jamie.

“Now Jamie!”

Jamie sprang toward the Doctor, who grabbed the piper with both hands and threw himself and Jamie backward just as the tree trunk split open in a burst of splinters and shards of bark. Overripe fruit that was hanging from the branches exploded as it hit the ground. The Doctor and Jamie happened to be on the ground near the spot where a large portion of the fruit landed, causing them to be splattered with chunks of the rinds and flesh. By the time it was over, the pair of them were covered in slimy bits of purplish pulp and tiny pearl-white seeds with juice dripping down the tips of their hair.

At first, Zoe’s mouth hung open due to anxiety over the condition of her two friends and then in amazement at their bedraggled appearance. Her very next response was laughter.

“Och, ye think it’s funny, do ye?” Jamie said, a threat in his tone. “Right, how aboot ye try a ‘wee bit of this fruit yerself then?”

Zoe backed away, confident that the piper would make good on his warning, but the Doctor put a hand on Jamie’s arm before he could act.

“No Jamie,” he sighed. “Let’s just get back to the TARDIS. I have no desire to become a meal plate for any insects that might be attracted to this glop.”

Zoe giggled again, and Jamie glared at her every step of the way back to the TARDIS. Once they were inside both Jamie and the Doctor immediately went to their rooms to change clothes and clean up. Other than some good-natured jibes that were sure to pass between Jamie and Zoe for the next few hours, the Doctor figured that that would be the end of it.

Unfortunately, that prediction turned out to be overly optimistic.

After he had washed away the last remnants of the fruit away and had dressed himself in a fresh outfit, the Doctor had dematerialized into the Vortex and went to make supper for everyone. He was just finishing up and had asked Jamie to set the table when he felt his cheeks flush and the first twinges of pain in his skull.

“No, no it’s not possible,” the Doctor muttered as he placed a hand to his forehead. “I didn’t eat any of the fruit this time and made sure not to let any of the juice or seeds get into my mouth.”

Beads of sweat formed on his brow, and the Doctor moaned as he wiped them away.

“Doctor?”

The Doctor opened his eyes and wondered when he had closed them. He felt a hand on his arm and looked over to see Jamie standing next to him, concern in his eyes.

“It’s all right, Jamie,” he assured him. “Just a little tired is all. Let Zoe know that the food is ready, all right?”

The piper patted his shoulder and left the kitchen. The Doctor paused for another minute to compose himself before putting the food on the table.

The dinner turned out to be a pleasant affair. Zoe and Jamie teased each other much like the Doctor guessed they would, and he actually felt a little better after getting something to eat. At the end of the meal, Jamie went to his room to practice on his chanter. Zoe finished what was on her plate and offered to take care of the dishes when the Doctor groaned and clutched the sides of his head.

“Doctor?” Zoe said as she walked over to him. “Doctor, are you all right?”

“What?” the Doctor said. “Oh, oh yes. Yes, I’m fine. I’m…no, oh no….”

The Doctor closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. He suddenly realized that, even though he hadn’t eaten the fruit on Geolous this time, the juice and rinds must be toxic to the touch for Gallifreyans just the same.

“I’ll be all right, Zoe,” he said. “It’s just that blasted fruit. Some of the juice must have gotten into my system.”

“Absorbed through the skin, perhaps,” Zoe said. “That’s not too surprising given how you were covered in that fruit residue. Is there anything we can do, Doctor?”

“No, not really,” the Doctor said. “It’ll pass in time. I just need to lie down for a while is all.”

The Doctor stood up from his chair. He tried to walk out of the room, but staggered against the table instead. Zoe took him by the arm and guided him toward his bedroom.

“Thank you, Zoe,” he said as they walked over to his bed. “I’ll just be a few hours. You’ll make sure to keep an eye on the power levels in the console room and let me know if there’s any change, won’t you?”

“Of course,” she said. “Are you sure that there aren’t any medicines in the sick bay that you could take to help with your condition? I could get them for you.”

“Well there is a neural relaxant I could take to help with the pain,” the Doctor mused. “Could you get that for me? Third shelf of the medicine cabinet and all the way to the end. You’ll see a clear bottle with round, yellow pills.”

 Zoe nodded and left the room to fetch the pills. Meanwhile the Doctor shrugged off his coat, draping it over a chair next to his bed. He slipped his shoes off and pushed his braces off his shoulders just as Zoe returned with a glass of water and a small vial.

“Oh yes, that’s the one,” the Doctor said. “Thank you, Zoe.”

The Doctor shook a pair of pills out of the bottle and popped them into his mouth before taking a long sip of the water. Then he sat the water onto his nightstand and laid down. Zoe placed a blanket over him.

“Are you sure that you don’t need anything else, Doctor?” she asked him. “It looks as though your temperature is elevated.” She reached down and placed her fingers on one of his wrists. “Your pulses are unsteady too.”

“I’ll be fine, Zoe,” he insisted. “I told you, I’ve put up with this before. It never lasts more than a few hours. Now, don’t fuss me. Just let me rest.”

“All right, Doctor,” she said. “But I will come back in two hours to check on you.”

“Fair enough,” the Doctor murmured as he closed his eyes.

He listened to Zoe’s footsteps as she left the room. He was grateful for the blanket she had thought to cover him with and pulled it up to his shoulders. Once he was done positioning it, he laid down on his back and waited for the TARDIS to lower the lights in his room down to dim.

‘ _If I keep perfectly still, the pain should subside marginally,’_ he thought to himself. ‘ _Yes, all I have to do is not move and not try to think too much either.’_

The Doctor worked to find a good balance between becoming completely rigid and suitably relaxed. Using skills he had learned from Tibetan monks, he had almost achieved it when he heard door to his bedroom open, a sliver of light running over his bed.

“Doctor?”

The Doctor sighed. He had thought that it was Zoe coming to tell him about some issue in the console room. However, the soft, Scottish burr told him that he had a new visitor.

“I’m all right, Jamie,” he said, anticipating the piper’s next question.  Even as he said this, the Doctor was aware that he wasn’t being very convincing. If it this was anything like the last time, he was probably pale, sweating and speaking in a voice enfeebled by pain.

“Zoe told me aboot how ye were sick and said that I should stop my bagpipe playing so ye could get some rest,” Jamie said as he walked in. “She said ye’d been poisoned by that fruit.

The Doctor’s lips twitched as he tried to hold back a smile. He was pretty sure that Zoe had her own reasons for asking Jamie to stop practicing which had nothing to do with his condition, but he wisely decided to keep that to himself.

“Well, ‘poisoned’ might be too strong a word, Jamie,” he said. “It’s more like eating something that disagrees with you and having to wait a day for it to pass. Ap _-pear-_ ently that fruit was more toxic than I thought.”

“Och, ye must be all right if ye can still make jokes like that,” Jamie said with a smirk.

The Doctor chuckled, but immediately regretted it as another spike of pain reverberated in his head. Concerned, Jamie moved closer and put his hand on the Doctor’s shoulder.

“Doctor, are ye sure ye’re all right?”

The Doctor let out another sigh. He was grateful that his companions cared for him so much, but having to keep reassuring them meant talking far more than he wanted to right now.

“Jamie, I already told Zoe not to fuss me,” he said. “Now please, go away and let me have some peace and quiet for a change, all right?”

Jamie stared at him for another moment before looking down at the floor. There had been a flicker of hurt in the piper’s eyes. The Doctor worried that he had been too harsh with him and then he realized that Jamie probably felt responsible for his current condition given how it was the result of rescuing the piper from being crushed by that tree.

“Jamie….”

The Scot turned on his heel and walked out of the room without another word. The Doctor started to get up to go after him, but even that small amount of movement created another wave of pain, causing him to moan and close his eyes again until it passed.

Just as he was about to try again, he heard the sound of boot-heels walking on the floor. He opened his eyes to see that Jamie had returned with a balled up washcloth in his hand. The piper knelt down beside the bed and gently patted the Doctor’s forehead with it, the fabric damp and cool.

“Feel any better?” Jamie asked.

At first, the Doctor didn’t answer, grateful that he had not hurt Jamie’s feelings too much and worried that he might snap again if he opened his mouth. However, it wasn’t long until he had to admit that the piper’s ministrations felt blissful.

“Yes, thank you, Jamie,” he murmured. “How did you….?”

“My father used to do this for my brother, Hamish when he was a bairn and used to get those pains in his head,” Jamie answered. “He always said it made him feel better.”

The Doctor gave a tiny nod and closed his eyes again as Jamie continued to dab his head. After a few more minutes of this, the piper stopped and put his hand on the top of the Doctor’s head near the crown.

“Rest now,” Jamie whispered. “I promise to be quiet, and ye don’ have to say another word to me. Jes let me stay so I can be here if ye need me.”

This time the Doctor did nothing to hide his smile. It was a smile of contentment, but also of wonder over how he could have gained such a friend in his random travels.

“Thank you, Jamie,” he said quietly.

The Doctor heard Jamie move into what was probably a more comfortable position before becoming still, his hand on the Doctor’s head. The warmth from the Scot’s fingers and palm radiated into his scalp and became a soothing balm for the ache in his skull. The pain was too great for him to actually fall asleep, so instead, the Doctor let himself drift into fluid daydreams and reverie. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard music and felt a breeze that was fragrant with heather.

Both of them ended up staying like that for hours. A quiet moment that was only focused on the gentle touch between two who were connected beyond the need for words.


	8. Duet: Rush to Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place early in Season 6B era.

Snow crunched under the Doctor’s feet as he strolled toward the still lake at the edge of the grounds near the resort complex, the fur on his voluminous coat bending in the breeze. The waters had frozen over almost three weeks ago. Now, the ice was thick enough to accommodate people walking, fishing and even riding on solar powered vehicles along its slick surface.

He and Jamie had arrived on the vacation planet of Tularias a couple of hours ago and were greeted by the sight of a vast white expanse of winter weather. The Doctor had spent a few minutes visiting an old friend of his who was one of the caretakers of the resort before asking if they could join the other vacationers outside. The caretaker had suggested ice skating to which the Doctor wholeheartedly agreed to despite the questioning look on Jamie’s face.

A mist rose off the ice and rolled over toward the forest nearby. The Doctor took a deep breath, the chilled air bracing in his lungs, before swiveling his head.

“Come on, Jamie!” he shouted. “We haven’t got all day.”

“Och give me a wee bit, will ye? I can hardly walk in these fiendish contraptions.”

The Doctor turned to face him and chuckled at the sight of Jamie trying to negotiate traipsing through the snow in ice skates. Fortunately, the piper had mastered the art of remaining upright while standing after a few minutes of instruction and support from the Doctor. However, walking was an entirely different matter.

“Well done, Jamie,” the Doctor beamed. “I do believe that this is the farthest I’ve seen you walk without my help.”

Jamie gave him another dark look, but said nothing as he approached the lake’s edge. The Highlander stared at the ice in front of him, the heat from his body creating a shadow of warmth all around him despite his shivering. The Doctor imagined that the Scot was grateful that he had recently taken to wearing cotton trews under his kilt.

“Why are we doin’ this, Doctor?” he finally huffed, his breath billowing around his mouth.

“You said that you wanted to do something fun before dinner,” the Doctor replied. “And the views from the lakes on Tularias are simply lovely. Just look at that vista.”

“’Tis nice enough all right,” Jamie shrugged. “But why do we have to go out there wit’ these blades on our feet?”

“Skates,” the Doctor corrected. “And I’m certain that you will enjoy ice skating once you get the hang of it. That is, unless you’re afraid that you won’t be able to learn.”

Jamie narrowed his eyes at him. The Doctor had anticipated the effect his comment would have on the proud, stubborn Highlander and was not surprised when Jamie immediately marched out onto the ice.

Nor was he surprised when Jamie promptly felt onto his behind.

His skates already on, the Doctor walked onto the ice and gracefully glided toward him, pointedly ignoring the scowl that had returned to the piper’s face.

“Now, don’t be discouraged, Jamie,” he said. “That was an admirable first attempt. I’m sure you’ll improve in no time.”

The expression on Jamie’s face told of his doubts about that, but he kept those thoughts to himself while the Doctor helped him back to his feet.

Thus began a slow, methodical process to teach Jamie how to stand and move along the ice while maintaining a steady posture. There were plenty of spills during these lessons which frequently involved Jamie using the Doctor as a landing pad. The little Time Lord eventually began to suspect that this was not entirely accidental, but accepted his role with relatively good humor. Most of the time.

Soon, Jamie was able to skate reasonably well when he was moving in long, swift strides while still struggling to keep his balance when moving at a slower pace. The Doctor figured that the piper was relying somewhat on momentum to keep himself from falling and started to consider a variety of methods to help the Scot learn to other ways to stop himself from falling.

“My word, you are a natural at this,” the Doctor chuckled. Jamie grinned back at him as he zipped by.

“’Tis nae so bad,” he called out. “’Tis easy once ye get used to these blades.”

“Easy is it?” the Doctor smirked. “Does this mean that you would be up for a challenge then? Say, a race to see who can reach that clump of trees on the opposite side of the lake?”

“Ye’re on,” Jamie smirked back at him.

The Doctor chuckled again. Sadly, the piper’s acceptance of this challenge did not have quite the impact that Jamie might have intended due to the Scot falling down again when he tried to stop himself from swooshing straight into a nearby snow bank. The Doctor waited patiently for Jamie to haul himself back to his feet and join him at their start point.

Once he was there, the two of them crouched down slightly as they prepared to dash.

“Ready?”

“Jes give the word.”

The Doctor raised a hand for a few seconds before dropping his arm and taking off. Jamie was right behind him and was quickly gaining ground.

Suddenly there was a loud crack followed by a scream. The Doctor and Jamie nearly collided into each other as they whirled around to see where the sound had come from. They saw a man standing in front of a large hole in the ice. He was waving his arms frantically while a pair of arms splashed in the water next to him.

“Someone help!” he yelled. “My little girl fell in. I, I can’t swim.”

The Doctor turned and headed over toward him, but Jamie used his newly acquired skill at long strides to overtake him. Jamie ended up reaching the crack in the ice before him and flopping down onto his stomach to reach for the girl.

“Grab my hand, lassie,” Jamie yelled at her. The girl cried and gasped as she stretched her fingers toward him. She managed to grab onto him and with the man’s help, Jamie was able to hoist her out of the water.

Unfortunately, the girl had panicked and kicked at Jamie as she was being lifted out which shoved the piper into the same hole. The Doctor’s hearts froze when Jamie did not resurface.

“He got pulled under the ice,” the man shouted as the Doctor arrived. The Doctor knelt down and scanned the area around him, desperate to find any sign of the Highlander.

“Jamie!” he bellowed. “Where are you? Jamie!”

Just then his eyes caught sight of fingers clawing at the ice near his knees. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and did some hasty calculations in his head. The Doctor was confident of his skills.

But that did not make him any less terrified at the sight of Jamie’s hands becoming limp and motionless.

The Doctor thrust the tip of his screwdriver against what he figured was the safest point in the ice and mashed the necessary buttons to adjust the settings. Thin fissures appeared in the ice, spreading like a web from the nexus. After a few seconds more, the Doctor shoved it back into his pocket and pounded his fist against the ice. The surface broke into an almost perfect circle in front of him. Jamie’s hand floated up, and the Doctor snatched it into both of his. The man moved over to help him pull the piper’s inert body from the water.

“He isn’t moving,” the man said as they backed away from the weakened spots in the ice. “Is he….?”

The Doctor ignored him as he gingerly lowered Jamie down onto his back. He leaned down, placing his hand against the Scot’s chest. Once he realized that Jamie wasn’t breathing, he opened the piper’s mouth and tilted his head to the side to let out any water that had been trapped inside. Then he readjusted Jamie’s head, pinched his nose shut, and bent down to breathe into his mouth.

“Get help,” the Doctor ordered between breaths. “Now!”

The man nodded and scooped up his daughter before rushing away. The Doctor turned his focus back to the piper’s still form.

“Jamie, Jamie, please,” he said as he continued his ministrations. “You can’t give up now. You have to breathe. Breathe for me, Jamie.”

The Doctor was about to try resuscitating him again when Jamie suddenly coughed and spat water straight into his face. Too relieved to care, the Doctor let out a strangled sob of happiness while he turned the piper to his side to make it easier for him to expel the rest of the water from his lungs.

“Oh thank goodness,” the Doctor sighed as he wiped the water away. “Jamie, are you all right?”

“Aye Doctor,” Jamie gasped as he slowly sat up. “But I cannae feel my hands and face. Can we nae go back inside now?”

“Of course, of course,” the Doctor said. “Oh dear, Jamie, you’re so cold. Here.”

The Doctor slipped off his heavy fur coat and wrapped Jamie up in it. Then he rose to his feet and helped Jamie get up as well. He put his arm around the piper’s waist to steady him before taking off toward the shore.

“I think several hot drinks and some rest in front of the fireplace are in order,” the Doctor said. “And then we will be having a long discussion about just how rash your actions were. That was an appallingly dangerous thing you did, you know. Do you have any idea how much of a fright you gave me?”

“Sorry,” Jamie said through chattering teeth. “But I could nae jes stand there and do nothin’”

“No, no I suppose you couldn’t,” the Doctor said thoughtfully.

“Right,” Jamie said. “I tried to land nae so close to the edge, but I still ended up slipping anyway. I don’ understand how ye can jes stop moving jes like that.”

“Well that comes with practice, Jamie,” the Doctor chuckled. “But I think we can put off any further lessons until you thaw out.”

Jamie smiled and nodded gratefully while the Doctor laughed again and gave him a gentle squeeze as they skated back toward the lounge.


	9. The Price of Blood For Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place at an unspecified point during Season 6B.

The only thing Jamie McCrimmon could see in that moment was blood.

He and the Doctor had been sent on what was supposed to be another “routine assignment” by Goth, who was acting as temporary head of the CIA while Sardon was involved with other matters related to the High Council. It was the third such “routine assignment” the two of them had had in as many weeks, and the piper was aware that the strain was taking its toll on the Doctor. What always started out as orders to simply observe and report almost inevitably turned into frantic struggles to survive…while still being expected to have observations to report.

Jamie sat on the floor of the TARDIS, cradling the limp body of the Doctor in his arms. This time, they had actually thought that they would be able to complete one of their missions without any troubles. The scientists that the Doctor was asked to investigate were easily tricked into giving them access to their laboratories and their records department. The Doctor’s way with words was sufficient to extract some of the information they needed from the staff while his skill with computer systems took care of the rest. Afterwards, the Doctor and Jamie were even able to enjoy a sumptuous meal with the chief scientist before departing with tidings for a pleasant journey.

In fact, things had gone so well, the Doctor had started to make plans as they walked back toward the TARDIS. They would take a quick holiday at the Eye of Orion after they had handed in his report. Or perhaps they would drop by Florana. The Doctor had been meaning revisit that beautiful planet for a long time. Jamie listened as he described a place that sounded so wondrous, it had to be a dwelling place for fey people.

They were so caught up in their planning; they didn’t notice the wild Grasil following them. Unfortunately, by the time they did, it was too late.    

“Jamie,” the Doctor moaned as he shivered violently. He blindly grabbed at the piper’s shirt with a blood-stained hand. There were already numerous blotches of thick scarlet all over Jamie’s clothes, making it so that he barely noticed it when the Doctor added a couple more to his sleeve. Jamie gently pried open the clenched fingers on his shirt and placed the Doctor’s hand into his.

“I’m here, Doctor,” he said. “I’m here. We’re back in the TARDIS. I, I hit that emergency button ye told me aboot and it’s taking us to Gallifrey. We’ll be back any minute.”

“Jamie…are you…all right?” the Doctor said in stuttering gasps. “It…it didn’t….”

“Och no, it dinna have a chance to touch me after I got it in the back of the neck wit’ my dirk,” Jamie said. “Ye were the only one daft enough to jump right in front of it.”

Jamie swallowed hard. He was trying to keep his tone light, but he couldn’t escape the unspoken fact that the Doctor had shoved him to the side and out of danger while he leapt into the monster’s path. If the Doctor hadn’t done those two things, he probably would have escaped unscathed. Instead, he was caught up in that thing’s claws for almost a full minute before Jamie was able to kill it by following the Doctor’s shouted instructions.

The piper looked down at his hands. They were covered in blood. Blood that should have been his own.

Suddenly, the lights faded in and out in the TARDIS and it shuddered. The space-time ship felt as if it was being tossed about in a violent sea of temporal waves.

“Doctor, what’s happening?!” Jamie yelled over the din of the instruments.

“The TARDIS,” the Doctor gasped. “She…she doesn’t like these…rough trips….”

“Eh?” Jamie said, looking back down at the drawn, grey face in his lap. “What do ye mean?”

“Emergency override,” the Doctor replied. “She…she knows…but they push her anyway….”

The Doctor shuddered again. His eyes were heavy-lidded and glassy. For a moment, Jamie thought that he would pass out, but then the Doctor’s body grew rigid, his eyes snapping wide open.  

“No…no!” he groaned. “I must…I must not…It’s not time….”

“Doctor? Doctor, what is it?”

“Must…fight,” the Doctor said. “Must not…let it happen….”

“Fight what?” the piper said, his voice tinged with a growing panic. “Doctor, what is it?”

“Jamie…help me…must not….”

“Doctor….”

“Must not…regenerate,” the Doctor slurred. “Not time…I can’t now…I…I…”

Jamie’s heart pounded in his chest, the sound rushing through his body. If the Doctor was worried about regeneration, it meant only one thing: he was dying. The Doctor had explained to him that regeneration was a Time Lord’s way of escaping death and was sometimes necessary in order to survive fatal injury.

And yet, for some terrifying reason, the Doctor was apparently fighting the process.

“Doctor,” Jamie said, a crack in his voice. “Don’ fight it. Please, don’ fight. I...I don’ want ye to die. Jes go ahead and change.”

“No,” the Doctor said, grabbing Jamie’s arm again. “I…can’t. I haven’t…you…you and Zoe…I haven’t….”

Tears wobbled in Jamie’s eyes. Now he understood why the Doctor was struggling against his body’s instinct toward regeneration. No matter how it came about, rather it be by accident, the High Council’s decree, or the Doctor’s own decision, regeneration meant the beginning of his exile on Earth. Jamie also knew that it meant that the CIA would be the ones to decide his fate and that nothing would be done for Zoe.

The Doctor was risking death to make sure he could secure his companions’ futures.

The TARDIS lurched again before suddenly calming down. Then Jamie heard the familiar grind of the Vortex releasing back into normal time before the TARDIS became completely still.

“Jamie,” the Doctor whispered. “Open the doors.”

“Aye,” the piper said with a hard sniff. He gingerly placed the Doctor onto the floor and got up onto his knees so he could flick the door switch. Seconds after he did so, a pair of Gallifreyan security guards rushed in.

“Quick! Get help!” Jamie shouted. “The Doctor’s been hurt!”

One of the security guards nodded and ran out of the TARDIS while the other one knelt down and examined the Doctor’s prone body. Jamie maneuvered him back into his lap and grasped his hand while explaining what had happened to the guard.

“Jamie,” the Doctor murmured again as his eyes closed.

“I’m still here,” the Scot said, patting his hand. “Ye’re goin’ to be fine now, ye’ll see.”

Soon a team of medics showed up with a hover-stretcher to transport the Doctor. They carefully moved him onto the floating apparatus and steered it out of the TARDIS. Jamie stood up and accompanied them while still holding onto the Doctor’s hand. Not long after that, the Doctor fell unconscious.

“Is he, is he goin’ to be all right?” Jamie said as they rushed along the passageway.

“His wounds are severe,” one of the medics said. “Quite honestly, I’m surprised that he hasn’t started to regenerate.”

“I believe you’ll find that there are many things that are surprising about the Doctor.”

Jamie whirled around and saw Goth marching swiftly toward him, a pair of security guards following close behind. It only took the Time Lord seconds to catch up with them.

“Ye,” Jamie said with a glare. “What are ye…?”

“Lord Goth, the Doctor needs immediate attention,” the chief medic said.

“Of course,” Goth said. “Begin treatment at once. Guards, take the Tellurian back to the Doctor’s oubliette.”

“No!” Jamie spat back. “I’m stayin’ wit’ him. He needs me.”

“There is nothing you can do and you will only get in the way,” Goth said. “Guards.”

The guards nodded and moved toward the piper. Each of them looped an arm around one of Jamie’s and pulled him away from the stretcher. Once that was done, the medics shoved the stretcher into the medical bay, the doors sliding shut behind them.

“Let me go,” Jamie said as he tried to squirm out of the guards’ grip.

Goth nodded at the guards and they responded by releasing their hold on the piper.

“I am certain that you realize that I am acting under the impression that you will follow the guards back to the oubliette without any more outbursts,” he said.

“But the Doctor….”

“You will be informed of the Doctor’s condition when there is something to report,” Goth interrupted. “Until such time, you will stay in the oubliette and wait to be summoned.”

“Ye…. It’s yer fault that he’s in such a bad way in the first place,” Jamie growled. “Ye jes kept givin’ him one mission after another. Ne’er lettin’ him stop to catch his breath.”

“That is the nature of the work in the CIA,” Goth replied. “The Doctor knows this.”

 “Oh aye, so why dinna Sardon do this sort of thing, eh?” Jamie added.  “Ye knew that it was wearin’ him out and ye kept doin’ it anyway. That’s why he could nae defend himself properly against that beastie. He was tae tired to see it and tae exhausted to really fight it.”

“So, you believe that it was my fault that the Doctor was injured, do you?” Goth said. “Tell me, how much has the Doctor told you about the physiology of a Time Lord?”

“Ye mean, how ye’re made up?” Jamie replied. “He told me some. How ye have two hearts and aboot regeneration and a few other things.”

“Then perhaps you know that Time Lords have far greater strength and stamina and much faster reflexes than say, Tellurians do,” Goth continued. “Given all that, do you honestly believe that the Doctor was injured solely because he was too tired to look after himself? After all, there could be other possibilies. Like that maybe he was…distracted by something?”

Jamie clenched his hands into fists, but remained quiet. It wasn’t difficult to see what Goth was implying with his words.

The problem was, deep down, Jamie knew that Goth had a point. If the Doctor hadn’t been so concerned with protecting him, he would have been able to avoid being so grievously wounded.

“Ah, I see that other possibilities have occurred to you,” Goth said. “You see, the Doctor is a Prydonian, like me….”

“He’s _nothing_ like ye,” Jamie insisted.

“You may choose to believe that if you wish,” Goth said. “However, the fact remains that the Doctor never does things without purpose. A true mark of our chapter within Time Lord society. Perhaps you should think on all of this while you are waiting. Think on it and ask yourself if there could be a greater reason behind all of this.”

Goth waved his hand at the guards before walking away. As much as Jamie wanted to force his way into the medical bay, he knew that it would be better to go quietly and let the medics concentrate on saving the Doctor. One of the guards motioned in the direction of the oubliette, and Jamie sighed and walked toward the route indicated. Soon, he arrived at the door, held up his arm for the scanner, and walked in through the parted doors which promptly shut as soon as he was inside.

Restless, the piper paced in a circle for a full minute before catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His hands and clothes were smeared with blood. Even his face had a couple faint smudges where the Doctor had touched his cheek. As Jamie stared at himself, Goth’s comments continued to repeat themselves in his head.

‘ _He got hurt to save me from that creature,’_ he mused. ‘ _And now, he’s on the edge of death ‘cause he’s tryin’ to help Zoe and ‘cause he’s tryin’ to protect me.’_

It was then that Jamie made the connection between Goth’s words and the Doctor’s actions. This blood. His life. Every part of his being. This was the price that the Doctor was paying for time. To take care of Zoe. Of him. And of all those other people out there, present and future, he felt he needed to tend to.

Jamie slowly sank to his knees on the carpet. He bowed his head and prayed, clasping his hands tightly together as he begged for the Doctor’s life and asked that he be relieved of his pain. He continued to pray fervently until he ran out of words to express his deepest fears and hopes.

Only then, did he allow his tears to fall.

 

 


	10. The Hearts That Are Rent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a sequel to the previous chapter, The Price of Blood For Time and takes place in the same point in Two's time line....

The first thing the Doctor did as he opened his eyes was raise a shaky hand to his face. His fingers traced along the contours of his features for almost a full minute before he reached a surprising conclusion.

He hadn’t regenerated.

The Doctor let his hand fall back down onto something unreasonably soft and highly synthetic. He knew that he would get more information about his surroundings if he actually tried to open his eyes, but that wasn’t an appealing prospect. He was fairly certain that he was back on Gallifrey and was not anywhere near as certain if he was all that interested in where he was on his home planet. As he debated the subject in his weary brain, he started to drift back to unconsciousness. He would have succumbed to sleep if one thought hadn’t cut through his mind’s chatter.

‘ _Jamie? Where is Jamie?’_

“Doctor? Are you awake?”

Slowly and cautiously, the Doctor forced his eyelids open. For a second, he had expected to see a familiar smile trying to mask the worry in hazel eyes. However, as his eyes focused, he realized that the voice that had spoken to him did not have any trace of a Scottish brogue. Thus, it wasn’t a shock to him when his vision cleared and he saw Jalel, a young Gallifreyan medic, standing nearby instead.

“Unfortunately,” the Doctor grumbled. “How long have I been here?”

“Can’t you tell?” Jalel said as he approached the bed the Doctor was currently lying in.

“Well I have a good guess,” the Doctor replied. “But I’m not sure if that is accurate due to all the drugs you lot have used on me by now, and I’m too tired to figure out if it is or not.”

“Fair enough,” Jalel said. “You’ve been unconscious for almost four days. I must say, Doctor, I am rather astounded that your injuries did not trigger a regeneration. As it was, our team was only just able to save your life.”

The Doctor acknowledged his comments with a flick of his eyes, but remained silent. How could he explain his reasons for holding back his regeneration to anyone here? Regeneration was not an easy or pain-free process, but it was still considered preferable to death. Thus, it would be difficult to for almost any other Time Lord to understand why he had resisted his body’s instincts for self-preservation.

Jalel continued to take readings from the machines monitoring him while occasionally asking him a question to gauge his condition. The Doctor had to admit that the medic was a considerate young man and tried to be cooperative. Still, his mind was too troubled to do more than give monosyllabic replies to his questions. He kept thinking back to the moment when he and Jamie were attacked by that Grasil.

 _‘Careless. That’s what I was,’_ he chided himself. ‘ _I had heard the sound of something in the vicinity, but I just brushed it aside without thinking about what could happen. All I wanted was to get the job over with so I could take the TARDIS where I wanted to go for a change. And that carelessness could have gotten Jamie killed.’_

The Doctor frowned. Being reckless was a habit he had picked up after decades of isolation and being mired in Time Lord politics. He still found plenty of evils to fight in the universe and did his best to find purpose in the mechanisms he was forced to become a part of. However, with no one to look after or to look after him, his worst traits had begun to rise to the surface. Faced with years of grinding toil in shadowy dealings that the Time Lords would make him forget anyway, the Doctor often went about these missions with the mindset that he had nothing to lose. Mainly because, for the most part, he didn’t.

Ironically enough, it was a loss he had endured that pushed him to persevere. The loss of Jamie and Zoe. The driving need to give them back everything that the Time Lords had taken from them and make sure they had a good place to live out the rest of their existence.

He had only partially succeeded so far with Jamie. The piper had his memories and his sanity and was no longer in danger of being executed for being a Jacobite rebel. However, Jamie was far from being in a good place where he could live freely. The Doctor did not know how long it would be before he could guarantee a peaceful, stable life for Jamie, but until that day, he knew that he was responsible for the piper’s safety. It was vital that he not fall back on the habits he acquired while traveling alone, but that was exactly what he had done.

“Doctor? Doctor, is there anything I can get for you?” Jalel said, interrupting his train of thought.

Just as the Doctor was about to answer that all he wanted was to know where Jamie was and to sleep, he spied movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see Goth entering the room.

“Lord Goth,” Jalel said as he moved to face him. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“How is the Doctor’s condition?” Goth asked.

“Stable,” Jalel said. “Which is extraordinary considering the condition he was in when he arrived. He should make a full recovery before too long.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” the Doctor said, acerbic.

“That will be all, Jalel,” Goth said with a wave of his hand. “You will keep apprised of the Doctor’s progress.”

“Of course,” Jalel said. “If you will excuse me.”

Jalel quickly strode out of the room while the Doctor secretly applauded him for being astute enough make sure to spend as little time as possible in Goth’s presence. Both he and Goth waited until the medic had left the room for a few seconds before speaking again.

“You know, you really shouldn’t have bothered visiting,” the Doctor said. “Flowers would have been more than sufficient.”

“My being here has nothing to do with social niceties, Doctor.”

“It never does.”

“Your last mission did not end as satisfactorily as we would have liked,” Goth continued, undeterred.

“I fulfilled all the assignment’s objectives and then some,” the Doctor said. “I can safely say that the Time Lords won’t have anything to worry about in regards to Plomas for the next few centuries.”

“That’s not what I am referring to,” Goth said.

“Oh, you mean the fact that I wound up here, is that it?” the Doctor said as sank back against his pillow. “I’m sure Jamie has explained that it had nothing to do with the mission itself, so there’s no risk of any of Plomas’ scientists figuring out my real reason touring their laboratories.”

“Doctor,” Goth said, crossing hands over his stomach. “This may come to a surprise to you, but you are far more useful to the CIA alive rather than dead. The High Council still expects to carry out its sentence when the time comes.”

“I see now,” the Doctor said, his eyes hooded. “You and Sardon had a ‘discussion’ about how you’ve handled the operations of the CIA. Pity. I would have liked to have been there for that.”

“Sardon knows that I do not always agree with his…methodology,” Goth said. “Nevertheless, I have decided to defer to his wisdom in this matter. You will stay here until the medics feel that you have recovered sufficiently. Then Sardon will decide how best to allocate your sabbatical.”

“I get a sabbatical?” the Doctor said, disbelief coloring his voice.

“A short one, I can assure you,” Goth said. “Now, I will leave you to your rest, Doctor.”

“Wait a minute,” the Doctor said. “What about Jamie? Where is he now?”

“The Tellurian is waiting in your oubliette,” Goth said. “He will be informed of your status now that there is something to report.”

“But hasn’t the medics been telling him how I am during his visits?” the Doctor said, a feeling of dread starting to creep into him.

“The Tellurian was sent to your oubliette not long after you arrived here,” Goth answered. “He has remained there ever since.”

“You mean you haven’t let him out at all?” the Doctor said, his voice rising. “Has anyone even told him what’s been going on out here? Has anyone checked on him?”

“He was told that you were stable and comatose once the medics were finished with their surgery,” Goth replied, unperturbed. “There hasn’t been anything new to report to him until now. As to your second question, our security staff has monitored the oubliette at regular intervals as part of standard procedure. The Tellurian’s life signs are within the range of what is normal for them and security has reported nothing life-threatening occurring in the oubliette itself. Really, Doctor, I don’t understand why you are so upset. Your assistant is perfectly safe where he is now.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at him. He knew that there was no use in explaining to Goth why he was angry that Jamie had been trapped in his oubliette for nearly four days with no one keeping him updated or even talking to him. Not that he wasn’t tempted to try…in a very loud and heated way.

“I want to see him,” the Doctor said venomously.

“Yes, Sardon figured that you would,” Goth said. “Very well. I shall inform the guards to allow the Tellurian to leave the oubliette to spend time with you here. You will caution him to stay within either the oubliette or your room here, won’t you?”

“Of course,” the Doctor said. He hated how Goth continued to refer to Jamie the same way others would a pet, but did not have the energy to further vocalize his disgust.

Goth left his room without another word, and the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. He turned his gaze up toward the ceiling, closed his eyes, and fully intended to just rest them until Jamie arrived.

He hadn’t intended to fall asleep. Nor had he intended to stay that way for hours. But when he opened his eyes again, the Doctor could tell that that was exactly what he had done.

The Doctor blinked several times and yawned as he reached up to rub his eyes. He tried to shift his position on the bed, but suddenly realized that something was holding his arm down. He glanced over to find Jamie sitting in a chair at his beside, his upper body resting on the edge of the bed. The piper was fast asleep and was clutching one of the Doctor’s arms.

A sad smile appeared on his face. There were dark circles under eyes that had a reddish tint near the corners and lines of exhaustion and tension on the rest of Jamie’s features. The Doctor suspected that this was first peaceful slumber the Scot had had in days. He didn’t want to wake Jamie, but he also wanted to make it so that both of them could sleep more comfortably. He began by gingerly extracting his arm from the piper’s grip. That was enough to make Jamie start to stir.

“Jamie,” the Doctor murmured. He started to stroke the piper’s hair which encouraged Jamie to finally open his eyes and lift his head.

“Doctor,” Jamie breathed, a smile instantly appearing on his face. The Doctor made sure to give his merriest smile back at him.

“It’s good to see you, Jamie,” he said.

“It’s good to see ye tae, Doctor,” Jamie said as he said up and stretched. “Och, I must have dropped oof. I dinna mean to crowd ye like that.”

“It’s all right,” the Doctor assured him. “You were clearly exhausted. Jamie…are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” the piper said. “I should be askin’ ye that. I know the doctors here said that ye’ll be all right eventually, but I…well, ye were in a bad way when we got here, and….”

“Jamie,” the Doctor said, placing his hand over Jamie’s. “I’m afraid I wasn’t in the most coherent of minds while we were making the trip back here. I’m sure I said a lot of things that did not make sense, and I apologize if they scared you.”

“Och, I was nae so afraid as all that,” Jamie scoffed. “I knew ye would pull through. Ye’re tougher than any beastie we’ve ever run into. I jes…I jes wish I could have known how ye were doin’ is all.”

“And I’m sorry for that too,” the Doctor said. “They had no right to keep you locked up like that. You haven’t broken any of the Time Lords’ laws, so you should not have been treated like a criminal.”

“Ye don’ have to apologize to me,” Jamie said. “It was nae yer fault. And it’s nae like ye could have done anythin’ to stop them.”

As he spoke those last few words, the piper lowered his head, any trace of his smile gone. The Doctor’s hearts ached as he patted Jamie’s hand to get his attention.

“Now Jamie, if you talked to the medics, you know that I won’t be stuck here for long,” the Doctor said as cheerfully as possible. “And Sardon has finally granted us some time off from CIA missions for a while. We’ll have a chance to relax and take a nice holiday, just like we were planning to do.”

“Aye, a holiday,” Jamie said quietly, still not raising his head.

“You never did tell me where you wanted to go,” the Doctor continued. “As I mentioned before, Florana is a beautiful world, but the Eye of Orion is very soothing. Either of them would make ideal places for a vacation. Or maybe we can stop by Scotland for a while. There’s nothing quite like the sunrise on the moors. Do any of these sound good to you?”

“It does nae matter,” Jamie shrugged. “Wherever ye want to go is fine by me.”

The Doctor’s smile faltered. He had known that Jamie’s mood was sure to be a melancholic one after days of worrying and isolation in that blasted oubliette. He had hoped that the piper’s mood would lift upon finding out that he was all right and on hearing that they would be free for a while. However, it also occurred to the Doctor that Jamie’s sadness was operating on a deeper level than these couple of unfortunate incidences.

‘ _I should have never brought him into this,’_ he thought mournfully. ‘ _Oh Jamie, why couldn’t I leave well enough alone?’_

“Jamie, I’m all right now,” he said. “I just need some time to rest. We both do, really. Goth was out of line to give us so many assignments in a row like that. But it will be better in the future.”

Jamie nodded silently. The Doctor tugged at one of the piper’s shirt sleeves. Jamie responded by moving closer so the Doctor could embrace him. He could feel Jamie’s breaths hitch, and another twinge went through his hearts.

“I’m sorry, Jamie,” he said gently.

Jamie said nothing as he held him even tighter, careful to mind the Doctor’s injuries. The Doctor suspected that Jamie knew that he was apologizing for far more than what had happened over these last few days. Not that Jamie would ever think of asking for an apology from him for the life he had now. In that moment, the Doctor wished he had made a different decision when he went back to Scotland to give Jamie back his memories. But he also knew that there was no point in brooding over that now. Even if he wished that he could change things, the Doctor knew that it was impossible. Sending Jamie back to where he was would mean stripping him of everything he had become during their time together and sending him to his death. Not to mention that, Jamie had made the choice to stay with him and would be deeply hurt if he disregarded that choice. No, he simply could not send the piper away, even if it meant denying him a peaceful life.

For now, all the Doctor could do was keep Jamie close to him and hope that their shared strength would be enough to hold their hearts intact.

 


End file.
